Relationship between markers of lipid peroxidation, thiol oxidation and Glasgow coma scale scores of moderate head injury patients in the 7 day post-traumatic period.
OBJECTIVE
Epidemiologic works reveal that moderate head injury (MHI) is more frequent and a substantial number of these patients develop complications resulting in neurological disabilities. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a major role in post-traumatic neuronal damage following traumatic head injury. Thus, the current study analysed the post-traumatic changes in the erythrocyte markers of oxidative damage and the relationship between these parameters and Glasgow coma scale (GCS) scores of MHI patients during the 7 day study period.


METHODS
Peripheral venous blood samples were taken at the time of hospital admission (d1 of injury) and on d7 from 25 MHI patients (admission GCS score > 8). These were compared with samples from 25 healthy individuals (normal controls, NC). GCS scores were recorded at the same time points of the study period. Erythrocyte lipid peroxidation (LP) and thiol oxidation levels were estimated and compared with that of NC. The relationship between GCS scores and erythrocyte markers were also studied.


RESULTS
Erythrocyte thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels reflecting lipid peroxidative damage remained significantly elevated at both time points of the study period in MHI patients as compared to NC (p < 0.001 ). There was a significant decrease in the level of nonprotein thiols in MHI patients as compared to NC (p < 0.01) at the same time points of the study. However, on d7 there were no further significant changes in the markers of oxidative damage in MHI patients as compared to on d1.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that a condition of oxidative stress occurs during the entire post-traumatic period in MHI patients and the utility of markers of oxidative damage in the prognosis of head injury needs to be addressed in further works.
Nayak
Chandrika
C
Department of Biochemistry, Melaka Manipal Medical College, International Centre for Health Sciences, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India. chandrikadinesh@yahoo.com
Nayak
Dinesh
D
Raja
Annaswamy
A
Rao
Anjali
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances; D005978:Glutathione